Claustrophobia
by Kinomi Shadow
Summary: Yuki must deal with his horrible past and deep fear of small, dark places. Very sad. YS and TH pairing implied.
1. Chapter 1

Claustrophobia

By: KinomiShadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket...

Prologue

I sat in that dark room again, hold myself a rocking back and forth. I'd done something wrong again, as usual. I had messed up big time. Akito put me in that dark room again.

"A rat like you deserves to live where the rats do," he said to me. "You are a pathetic excuse for a member of the Zodiac. You're even stupider than the cat."

I shuttered at his words. Such a bad person I must be to deserve to lurk it the cold, damp depths of darkness. Such an awful, stupid, rotten person I must be. A no good, useless rat. I sneezed a couple of times and backed up in a corner against a sleek wall. My eyes hurt from how dark it was and my chest began to hurt as I coughed. The cold always hurt my bronchial tubes; I feared another asthma attack.

I tucked my arms into my sleeves to keep warm, and I continued to rock for that was all I could do. I prayed desperately that my mother would come and rescue me soon, even though I was a burden for her. The hours passed and it got colder down there. The white of my breath was visible, it was so cold. My tears that I shed threatened to turn into ice as I shivered uncontrollably, couching the whole time.

Then Akito appeared at the door again, smirking down at me. He yanked me up hard and carried me back to the house.

"So the rat returns," everyone said to me, laughing at me and making me feel small.

I never wanted to return to the dark place, but Akito made me.

I never want to be locked up again...


	2. Chapter 2

Claustrophobia

By: KinomiShadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket...

Yuki Sohma stood with his back against the wall, waiting quite impatiently for Kyo. Tohru stood next to him, smiling cheerfully as usual, which made Yuki less anxious about waiting. Kyo finally walked out of the dojo, smirking rather brightly as he took a fighting-type stance.

"Hey you fruity rat!" Kyo called out loudly. "Fight me! I'll get you this time!"

Yuki rolled his eyes, sighing.

"I don't want you to fight again, Kyo-kun," Tohru said slowly, her eyes wide and innocent. "Let's get some rice cakes or some pocky. I know! We could have a party tonight since schools out!"

At this, Kyo and Yuki couldn't help but smile. But then, catching each others glance, Kyo and Yuki turned directions, scowling. Tohru, seeing that her two friends still refused to get along playfully (and for shear enjoyment) temperarily forgot all about the "curse" and embraced them around their necks, one in each arm. POOF!

Rat Yuki sat on the ground, looking very confused as Cat Kyo growled in the most displeased way.

"Uh oh," Tohru said, seeing what she had done. Then she scooped up her animal turned friends saying: "I guess I'll have to carry you guys home with me. Gomen nasei."

Back at the house

Yuki sat at the kitchen table, completely back to normal at this point (minus his shirt), eating leeks as Kyo looked at him, quite disgusted.

"How can you eat those?" Kyo asked, disgusted.

"None of your bussiness, stupid cat," Yuki replied as he took another heaping bite. "And actually, if you want to know, I eat them with chedder."

Kyo made another disgusted face, but made no farther remark on Yuki's unsual food combo.

Tohru came into the kitchen, followed by Shiguri, Ayame, and Momichi. Yuki looked up, saw his brother, and made to leave the room.

"Oy, brother!" Ayame called out. "We were just about to play sardines!"

Yuki groaned.

"What's sardines?" Tohru asked brightly.

"Oooh," Momichi said, grinning ear to ear. "It's where you have all the lights turned out and you have teams or a partner and its all dark and you hide and also look for people and the last team left is the winner!"

("Did he just say that in one breath?" Kyo asked himself under his breath.)

"Okay," Ayame said brightly. "Now we choose our partners!"

Yuki shuddered. One part because he didn't want to be picked by Ayame, and the other, much serious reason that he hated dark, small places.

"I get Ayame," Shiguri said brightly. Ayame clapped his hands a giggled cheerfully.

"I choose, um, Yuki," Tohru said, blushing very brightly. Yuki sighed in relief but still looked shaken at the idea of this game.

"Yea!" Momichi squealed. "I get KYO!" Kyo made a very disgusted face.

So Shiguri flipped all the switches in the house off and set a timer for ten minutes so they could all find a good hiding place. Yuki and Tohru wondered around the house, Yuki stumbling and trembling as the two of them stumbled accidently into a closet. The door closed behind the and Yuki lunged for the door nob. It was locked.

Yuki started to tremble all over and he back up in the corner. He felt so cold and he couldn't see anything. Tohru sensed his fear and she gently touch his arm. Yuki jerked back in fear and slapped her.

"Yuki," Tohru said softly, tears forming in her eyes. "What's wrong. It's okay to be scared, I mean, not that you're scared or anything, um..."

Yuki felt ashamed because he knew he had slapped her.

_I'm such an awful person. No wonder rats deserve to be in darkness._

"Yuki?" Tohru whispered.

"S-sorry Tohru-kun," Yuki said shakily. "Y-you just startled me. I-I'm f-fine."

Yuki leaned back against the wall, trembling still. Tohru looked over at him with concern, though in the dark you wouldn't be able to tell.

"Wanna talk?" Tohru asked innocently. "Maybe if you talk, you won't shake so much."

Yuki began to rock, as he did so long ago, curling up trying to get warm.

"Akito," Yuki began, tears forming in his eyes. "Akito used to put me in a small dark room whenever I screwed something up. It used to be so cold and dark down there, but it was where rats deserved to be. At least, that's what Akito told me."

"That's awful!" Tohru said, horrified. "How did you get out of the small dark room?"

Yuki sighed and shook his head sadly.

"When I was little," he whispered. "I used to pray that my mother would come for me. I would wait for her for hours, but always it was Akito who let me out. Funny thing is, he never truly let me out of the dark room. I still live in it day after day. Those memories, they're my small dark room that I can't escape from..."

Tohru felt her own tears, from all the feelings she felt for Yuki, well up in her eyes.

"Then I'll help you!" she cried out. "I'll help you out of your dark room, Yuki! I'll help you escape!"

Yuki looked at her (or rather, tried to look at her for it was too dark to see).

"But I'm an awful person," Yuki said.

Tohru leaned her head against him, careful not to embrace him.

"Yuki," she said quietly. "You're not awful. You're one of the nicest people I know. Now let's try to unlock this closet!"

Tohru raised her head up, slowly, and then reached her hand out to the door. She found the button on the nob and turned it, unlocking the door. Tohru smiled down at Yuki.

"See?" she said, smiling and blushing. "We escaped your dark room together. Let's go."

Yuki couldn't help but smile as he followed Tohru out.

Just then, Momichi and Kyo bounded up to the two of them, Shiguri and Ayame sitting out (they were found already).

"We won!" Momichi squealed in delight. "See Kyo? There they are!"

"My brother just came out of the closet!" Ayame said happily.

Kyo approached Yuki, getting up in his face.

"Ha, you retarded rat!" Kyo said smugly. "I finally beat you at something. (Uh, did you just come out of the closet?)"

Tohru smiled brightly as a new argument started up between Yuki and Kyo.

"Well I guess everything is back to normal," she said to herself.

Later that night

Tohru and Yuki sat in silence, outside in their secret spot.

"Thank you Tohru," Yuki said, blushing a little.

Tohru turned to him.

"For what?" she asked, a little worn out from playing sardines.

"For helping me break away from my dark room," Yuki explained.

"I'd do anything for you," Tohru replied quietly.

Then, Yuki leaned towards Tohru and kissed her, finally free of his fears. For when you keep your friends close, nothing is as scary anymore.

End

Notes: Awwe! Wasn't that sweet? Hope you enjoyed it! (I can never keep anything completely serious). .


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